


Jericho

by JWade



Series: Jericho [1]
Category: Jericho (US 2006)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 02:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15620481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: In this story, we follow the events of the series, with a little more exposition and added scenes. Bill has been pining for Jake Green since they were kids, but he has always been out of reach. Now he's back in town and pulling Bill in a dozen different directions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Starting writing for a new fandom and ship since I can't bring myself to write Sabriel anymore at the moment. For all of those who are following me over, thank you.

As Jake looked over the countryside while he headed home, he couldn’t help but sigh. He really didn’t want to go back there. Too many memories, both good and bad. Somehow the good ones were the worse ones even. There was so much bad that the good was just a reminder of everything he could never have. He stopped at Stanley’s place on the way in and grabbed a pie after enduring his childhood best friend’s curiosity and fobbing him off with the first lie he could think of. Then a quick trip to the market before heading to his parent’s house. 

After a fruitless argument with his father and visiting his grandfather’s grave, he was back on the road, anxious to put as many miles between himself and home as possible. All thoughts of getting away flew out of his head though when he noticed the mushroom cloud. He saw a car coming for him at the last second and tried to swerve away, but failed and once he woke up from the accident, all he could think of wasn’t getting away. It was getting back home to make sure his family was okay. 

He hadn’t walked very far towards home before he heard something and found a couple kids looking for help. It wasn’t like he could just turn and walk away, so he followed them and found a crashed school bus. He had no idea what he was doing, but he couldn’t do nothing when the little girl nearly died, so he did the best he could with what he had and actually managed to save her life before getting the bus back on the road towards town. 

 

Bill had been watching the president’s address with Jimmy and his family when the television went dead. The first clue that it was anything other than random interference was when the kids came running in looking terrified and he nearly panicked at the sight of the mushroom cloud in the distance, but drew on his training to stay calm and he and Jimmy packed up the kids and went looking for the mayor. After that it was one disaster after another. So much so that he hadn’t even had time to consider the fact that Jake had apparently been back briefly. 

When the search parties went out looking for both the missing school bus and Jake, he was quick to volunteer, despite the fact that everyone was going anyway. As much as he wanted to save the kids, he wanted to save Jake just as much. Unfortunately, that trip ended up with him half stripped and stuffed in the trunk of his own cop car. The next thing he knew was Emily Sullivan standing over him. He tried to warn her about the man coming after her, but he wasn’t quick enough, or clear enough, or something. 

Thankfully she managed to survive and then Jake was there, pulling him out of the trunk and Bill’s breath caught. He hadn’t seen Jake in years. Not since the night he’d left town after the cluster that got Chris killed and Mitch Cafferty arrested. 

Bill walked over and plopped down on the steps by Jake, sitting a few steps down from him, ignoring his own injuries as he worried over everyone else. He had seen Jake and Emily at odds, and now Emily didn’t seem to be doing very well. “She’s still not talking. I get that. I mean, I’m a cop. I’ve never killed anybody. She’s a schoolteacher.”

Jake winced at the reminder. He remembered well being at the end of Bill’s gun. The night he left Bill was the one chasing him. He’d had his gun drawn, but hadn’t pulled the trigger and Jake was able to slip away. It wasn’t like Jake could have shot Bill either though. Now he was stuck back here dealing with all this crap he didn’t want to. Between Emily and Bill he was being reminded of way too much. He found himself unconsciously leaning against Bill slightly as they talked and he got word from Eric that their father was okay. 

Bill would never admit the comfort he was drawing just from Jake’s presence. He knew he shouldn’t. Jake was bad news. Always had been. Especially for him. In this situation though…he was so far over his head he wasn’t sure the bottom existed. He had no idea what to do and would gladly let someone else take over. Even if it was Jake Green. When they heard the noises coming from upstairs, he had his gun drawn before he could even blink. He would later claim it was his training and cop instincts, but honestly it was just a matter of him being too on edge and jumpy. At least he wasn’t jumpy enough to pull the trigger or Stanley would have been in trouble. 

Jake jumped up and pushed Emily and Bonnie behind him, fully trusting Bill to be the first line of defense. And Jimmy. He trusted Jimmy too. But Bill was the one he watched. He’d seen how quick on the draw the deputy was and was rather impressed, not that he would admit it. When it turned out to just be Stanley, he also noticed how Bill immediately placed himself in front of both Jake and the girls to keep him from getting close. It was only natural that when the storm finally stopped, that it was Emily and Bill that he trusted to get his best friend to the med center. And only part of that was needing them away from him. 

Bill heard Emily demanding to go with Jake when he left for news and tried to ignore it. It wasn’t his issue. It never had been. Jake and Emily had been a thing since they were barely out of diapers. He knew that if Roger didn’t come back they would be again. Maybe even if Roger did come back. Oh well. It wasn’t like he would ever have a chance anyway. Their one encounter in high school had made that abundantly clear. He didn’t notice Jake glance up at him before agreeing to let Emily come, but he too was glad to get out of there and get Stanley to the clinic. 

Once he got Stanley settled he headed back to city hall to get back to work. After making a quick detour by his house to grab a new uniform, of course. He kept tracking the people out on patrol until he lost contact, and forced himself not to worry. They had known it would happen. Jake was fine. And even if he wasn’t, it wasn’t Bill’s problem. He still couldn’t help the sigh of relief when Jake came back and covered it with “You should be in Wichita by now.” 

Bill watched Jake pull out the flight data recorder and ran to get the reel to reel so that he could listen to it. As he watched Jake work while they waited for the mayor, Bill couldn’t help but pay more attention to him than the gathering crowd. Jake was in his element. If there was one thing he knew it was flying. He would be the best person to make sense of all the chatter. Bill didn’t notice the way Jake kept glancing up at him as he went through the recording and the few times he caught it, he didn’t think anything of it. Just him keeping an eye on who was around. 

Jake breathed a sigh of relief when his father came in and started the last 30 seconds of the planes recording. They ended up picking up a lot of information through that as he translated the lingo for the laymen among them. He noticed Bill on edge and worried about what it all meant, but saw the deputy put his own feelings aside to help the others. When he caught the background about Roger’s flight he called Emily over, not noticing the look on Bill’s face and let her hear the part where Roger’s plane landed safely. 

Bill rushed over to Emily, happy that Roger was still alive, both for her sake and his own. He didn’t know if he could stand watching Jake and Emily play happy couple again. They headed out, and Bill gave one last glance back towards Jake where he was talking with the mayor, feeling both better and worse than he had earlier.


	2. Walls of Jericho

Bill followed Heather, along with Jimmy, Stanley, and Bonnie to the pharmacy to see what Jake found and his eyes widened when he saw the man lying on the floor. He heard Jake say, “Help me get him out of here,” and shook his head. 

“Not without gloves or a hazmat suit.” There were a lot of things he would do for Jake Green. Dying of radiation sickness was not one of them. 

Jake and Stanley had Heather get Bonnie out before he said, “Come on Bill. Help us pick him up.” If there was one person he thought that he could count on to help it would be Bill. He knew that Stanley would, but he had already been exposed to enough and he had Bonnie to consider. 

Bill shook his head again. “I’m not touching him. No way. Not me. He could be contagious.”

Stanley rolled his eyes and moved to help Jake. “He’s not contagious, Bill.”

“I’m sorry Stanley,” Bill said as he backed away. 

“What if it was me laying here, Bill. Would you walk away then?” Stanley said frustrated and Bill just turned and walked out. 

“We could get sick touching that guy,’ Jimmy made his foray into the debate even as Jake and Stanley lifted him up anyway. “It’s not like with you Stanley. We don’t even know who this guy is.” Bill was glad that someone was on his side at least. It didn’t make it any easier to stomach the derision that Jake looked at him with. 

Bill was still trying to get that look out of his head when he saw the mayor looking for him and he pulled Jimmy over. “Any word from Shep or Gray?” he asked. 

Jimmy shook his head. “No mayor. We still can’t get them on the radio.”

“Maybe they got captured by those tanks Stanley saw,” Bill said petulantly. So he wasn’t in the mood to hope at the moment. Sue him. 

“Those tanks are probably just national guard,” Jimmy argued. 

“You don’t know that,” Bill retorted. “They could be Chi-“ He was cut off by the mayor shushing him as a civilian walked by and he looked back to make sure that he was gone before continuing. “They could be China. They could be Iran, Al-Quida, North Korea. Anyone who hates us. They could be coming here and what’s our line of defense? You’re looking at it.” He and Jimmy would be right in front if the fighting ended up here and he knew that was a death sentence. This whole situation had him more than a little on edge. 

When Eric and the mayor told them what the sick guy said about someone was coming, Bill’s mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario. It was just that kind of day. At least they were told to hire more deputies, even if their current assignment was to get gas. Getting people to give up their gas was easier said than done though. When he learned how Jake did it, he was annoyed. He should have thought of that. It was his job and stupid Jake Green shows him up at every opportunity. 

Bill’s day just got even worse though when they found Shep’s truck. When Jimmy got there looking for info, Bill told him what he knew. “No sign of Shep, but look what I found inside. Looks like ‘Victor Miller’ forgot his wallet. At least the new deputy, Hawkins, was thinking clearly. They had to talk to the guy. Sick or not. When April refused to wake him up so they could talk to him, they went to the only place they could. Her husband. 

Of course, this situation would see him embroiled in yet another argument with Jake. “It doesn’t matter. We have to go look for his family,” Jake argued. Like anyone had said otherwise. Bill tried to bring the conversation back around where it needed to be. 

“Why’d he have Shep’s truck?” he asked pointedly. 

“We need to know what he did with him,” Jimmy agreed. 

“But we can’t just torture a dying man,” Jake countered. 

Eric tried to keep the peace. “No one is torturing anyone,” he said with a note of finality. 

Hawkins jumped in with a suggestion. “We could give him a shot of adrenaline. It would wake him up enough to question him.”

“He’s dying of third degree burns. It would be like waking him up on fire,” Jake pointed out. 

Bill was getting frustrated now. “Our people are dying out there. Shep may already be dead.”

“We need to protect ourselves, Jake,” Jimmy jumped in. 

“We need to protect ourselves from /this/” Jake snapped. He knew where the path led when you started making sacrifices to your humanity, and he didn’t want to see anyone in this town go down that path. Especially not his family. Or Bill. 

“Jake…Shep, he’s one of us. We need to find out what this guy did to him,” Bill tried to reason with him. 

“Hey, he is going to die anyway, but he could save some people’s lives,” Hawkins said, and Bill looked hopeful when Jake seemed to deflate at that, but no one responded. “Eric,” Hawkins looked to him instead and when Eric nodded he said, “I’d like to do this myself.” Bill wasn’t going to argue. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the guy. Of course, Jake just couldn’t let it go though. He insisted on going with. 

Bill felt bad when he heard that the man died, especially when it turned out he didn’t do anything to Shep, but really, it was inevitable anyway. Still, he was drowning his sorrows in a beer at Bailey’s when he saw Jake come in and for crying out loud, couldn’t he escape the man anywhere? “I need a few volunteers. There are a group of people just outside of town,” Jake addressed the crowd and there were a few people quite vocally declining. At least he was saved from having to this time. “They’re at Bass Lake. They might have radiation sickness. We need to bring them here and get them to the clinic before it’s too late.” Jake was turning off the televisions while he was talking and people were getting frustrated. “You’ve seen it. You’ve seen it a hundred times. A man just died in our clinic. OUR clinic. And he was travelling with his daughter and about twenty other people. Alright? It could have been Shep. Or Gray. Or any of us. They need our help. Are we gonna help them? Or are we just gonna sit here watching the same three images over and over.” When there was still no response Jake sent a scathing look around the bar and went to leave. 

“Jake!” Mary called before he could get far. “I’ll donate gas if you need to fill your car to get them.”

“I’ll go with you,” Emily offered, and Bill scowled. Well now he /had/ to go. That started a whole group of volunteers even and they loaded up the cars and headed out there. Bill’s breath caught at the sight that met him though. It was one thing seeing one guy sick while in the process of committing a criminal act. Seeing all these people…women, children, laying there dead was a whole different thing. He began to realize that he was the one who had his priorities messed up here. These people should have come first. Dealing with Victor and the questions about Shep could have waited. 

Later on, in the church, he almost felt like the mayor was speaking to him personally. He stood when Johnston asked for people to stand who had lost loved ones, and he could feel the tears prickling his eyes. The mayor was right. Every life did matter. Their humanity was the most important thing to preserve. He had let his fear override that, but not anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

Bill couldn’t help the hope he felt when the power came back on and then his phone rang. He listened to the message, and then tried making a call, but when he couldn’t get through he headed in to town hall to see if anyone else knew anything. He hadn’t been there long when he saw, Jimmy and Eric coming in. “Hey did your phone ring?” 

“Yeah. Everyone’s did. All the landlines in town,” Eric answered. 

“Why?” Bill asked confused. 

“Because Kansas has reverse 911 system,” Johnston Green answered as he walked in. “If there’s an emergency it just pulses out a call. That’s what we all heard.”

“Why can’t we call out?” he asked the big question. 

“Everyone’s trying to use the phone at the same time. System’s overloaded,” the mayor explained. 

“You think the power’s back for good?” Bill asked hopefully. 

“I don’t know. I’m not gonna count on it,” Johnston said as he walked away. Bill followed him to start charging everything they had while Jimmy went to get gas from the gas pumps. It wasn’t long before Jake came in and for once he wasn’t shown up. He couldn’t resist the smirk as Jake walked out to head home. Of course, that was the queue for the shit to hit the fan again. 

Bill ended up becoming a firefighter for the day, along with pretty much anyone who could hold a hose. If he had known that he would end up doing this, he would have paid more attention to what needed to be done in the past. He was trained as a cop, not a firefighter, but he had his orders. He ended up helping to fight the fire at the trailer park and by the time he was finished, he had learned what else had happened. How they lost water at the library and Jake managed to get it turned back on before going to fight another fire solo. The idiot. He wasn’t a firefighter either. He could have been killed. He was glad that no one had been killed today. This could have been a lot worse than it was. 

That night, he got the summons to Bailey’s like everyone else for the television feed, and when he saw those bombs going up, his stomach was in his throat. He heard Stanley ask if they were ours or theirs, but he already knew before Jake said it. It was rather obvious after all. This country was obviously at war, and they were completely helpless and in the dark, and there was nothing he could do about it. He had become a cop so that he could help people. So that he could stay in control of any situation. So that he wouldn’t have to be helpless anymore, but now…well now everyone was helpless and he was more helpless than most. He would be bound by duty to throw himself at the dangers that were coming. He wasn’t going to survive this thing. He just knew it. 

When the EMP came, Bill couldn’t help his groan. So much for actually keeping power. It wasn’t so much that he minded being without the conveniences, but without power, keeping the peace became a hundred times harder. People who are scared, and bored, and frustrated were not easy to deal with in the best of times. This whole situation was riots waiting to happen and with as short staffed as they were…it was a nightmare. The next few days, he barely managed to catch any sleep, but none of the other deputies was any better. Two of the volunteers had even quit. Couldn’t take it. Eventually things settled down though. He was crashing on a cot in town hall more often than not, but at least he was able to get some sleep most days after the worst was over. 

Bill found himself turning a blind eye to most petty crimes just to be able to focus on the important things, but at least he was busy enough to keep from dwelling on the Jake situation. He still saw him around town fairly often. Always somewhere doing something appropriately heroic. Like that could erase everything he’d done in the past. People were so quick to forget about all that though. Like it never even happened. Jake was the hero of Jericho now. Forget the fact that four years ago he was mixed up in robbery that got someone killed. Forget the years he spent running drugs and weapons for Jonah Prouse. Forget all the pain and misery he had thrown at this town. Apparently a month of good behavior erased all that. Well Bill wasn’t going to forget. No matter what kind of hold Jake had over him, he would always remember that he was bad news. He had to. If he ever let himself forget that he would be in trouble. 

When Mitch Cafferty stole the mayor’s horses and injured his wife, Bill was glad to be left behind on the latest ‘save Jake from his own stupidity’ mission. Someone had to mind the shop after all. If he had known that would end up with him having to go interrogate one of his oldest friends and essentially accuse him of stealing, he might have volunteered anyway, but he didn’t know so here he was searching the most honest man in town. Sometimes his job sucked. “Some pesticides got stolen over at Gracie’s. You know anything about it?”

“No, I was there earlier trying to buy some but,” Stanley trailed off with a shrug.

“But what?” Bill asked evenly, refusing to even look at Stanley. 

“Alright. What’s going on? Why are you acting like this?” Stanley asked suspiciously. 

Bill sighed. “Gracie came down to the station. Started raising all kinds of hell. She says you stole them.”

“She said I stole them?” Stanley asked incredulously. 

Bill covered his wince and glanced around. “You mind if I take a look around?” he asked evasively. 

“Yeah! I do Bill. This is nuts!” Stanley protested. 

“What’s going on?” A woman asked as she came up. Bill thought she was some suit from DC but he could be wrong. He hadn’t had any actual run ins with her, so he wasn’t sure. 

“I don’t know. One of my best friends is accusing me of stealing pesticides,” Stanley said heatedly. 

Bill looked away and turned around. “I’m gonna go check the barn.”

Stanley rushed after him and grabbed his arm to spin him around. “Hey! I didn’t say you could go in there.”

Bill knocked Stanley’s arm away from him as he spun around angrily. “Watch it!” This was deteriorating faster than he had anticipated and if Stanley crossed the line into actually assaulting an officer…more than he already had…it wouldn’t end well for either of them. 

The girl jumped in again to save them both from further escalation. “It’s okay. Just let him do what he wants to do.”

“Fine! Check the barn! Check the whole damn house!” Stanley snapped. 

Bill check through the barn before coming back out. “You’re clear,” he said relieved. Granted the situation warranted a more thorough search, but he knew that Stanley was innocent. It didn’t mean he didn’t have to do his job though. That’s why Stanley’s attitude hurt so much. 

“You sure? Because we can check the fields. We can go through them row by row,” Stanley challenged. 

“We got a complaint,” Bill tried to reason with him. 

“So all you gotta do now is accuse someone?” Stanley yelled. 

“Stanley!” the girl tried to calm him down. 

“No,” he snapped at her before turning back to Bill. “What about my word, Bill?” 

“I’m just doing my job, man,” Bill said sadly. Little did he know he would soon be right back here again helping with the harvest. Yet another job he was unqualified for, but it seemed he was going to have to get used to such things. He kept his distance and worked at the fringes, not wanting to end up facing either Jake or Stanley after the earlier confrontation, but he did his part, like everyone else. He just hoped it would be enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Bill got back to the office to find that they had Mitchell Cafferty in lockup and groaned. This wasn’t going to go well for anyone. He almost offered to drive the guy out of town and try to find a judge somewhere immediately, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Even if he did find one, they wouldn’t be able to take him anytime soon. He was proven right the next day when he turned around to find none other than Jonah Prouse himself standing in the station. And as if on cue, Jake walks in too. After a rather stilted greeting, Bill went to sit down at the desk and let Jake handle him, but he watched like a hawk. On one hand he trusted this new Jake to a point. He would do what was best for the town, but on the other hand, old habits died hard and it didn’t mean that his idea of what was best would actually be a good thing. He didn’t see anything wrong with the offered deal, given the circumstances. It wasn’t like they had the facilities to hold Mitch for as long as it would take to get a judge, if there were any still alive and they needed food desperately. As long as Jonah could be trusted to keep up his end of the bargain, he could live with the deal Jake made. 

At least he held with that until Gray got back. He made a good point about keeping law and order no matter what. They couldn’t let themselves be pushovers. Hearing what things were like out there when people lost those things was jarring. He refused to see that he was doing the same thing he always did. Finding the biggest bully on the playground and following the leader to keep himself safe. Hearing that DC was gone was plenty for him to justify his opinion. Gray knew what it was like out there and was determined to keep it away from here. That was what mattered. 

If only Bill had known that decision would land him in a cell as Jonah got Mitchell back anyway. He might have argued for Jake’s side. But probably not. Taking Jake’s side too much was a slippery slope. He had to admit that hearing about Gray almost starting a firefight on Main Street did make him waver in his position, but it hadn’t come to that, and Jake taking off right after to try and ‘reason’ with the criminal just swung him right back. He knew how this worked. Jake getting into bed with Jonah was about the worst thing possible. For all of them. It was this thought that had him sticking by Gray when he started talking about interrogating new people in town. When Eric Green went along with it, that made it easier for him to justify it at least. 

Hearing that the mayor was dying made it both easier and more difficult to keep his position though. He had nothing but trust and respect for the mayor, despite the unfortunate circumstances of his son, and knew that Johnston Green would never support what Gray was doing. On the other hand though, Gray would be the most likely person to take his place in running this town when he was gone and alienating him would not be a good thing. 

Bill wasn’t surprised that Jake managed to find trouble when he went out there. He wasn’t even surprised to hear that it had followed him back. Jake was a trouble magnet. Always had been. At least he was willing to do something about it now. Unlike before when he would slither away or even set up other people to take the fall. When Gray fell into line behind him, Bill had no choice but to go along. Not that he wouldn’t have anyway. It made sense. It was just the principle of the thing. He’d spent most of his childhood and teen years hiding behind Jake Green, and having to do so again galled him. 

Bill was still out collecting ammo during the first confrontation at the bridge and only heard about it afterwards. When Eric ordered him to lock up the explosives, he disagreed, but now that mayor Green was going to survive, Eric was still his appointed boss until he got back. He had no choice. That was one thing that was drilled into them relentlessly at the academy. If a superior gives you an order you do it. Period. His discomfort with the idea led him to be easy prey when Gray came around to convince him to cough up the keys to the lockup. Thankfully, Gray also showed up before Eric could lay into him and took over and Bill didn’t waste any time getting out of there. 

Bill would never admit how terrified he was sitting there watching Jake standing on that bridge with that detonator in his hand. It was almost as bad as watching that sniper’s laser on Jake’s chest. He kept himself steady though. Didn’t let on. Just because he knew better than to let him get close didn’t mean that he could stand to see Jake dead. He breathed just as easy as everyone else when it ended without bloodshed. Without Jake’s bloodshed, and who would have ever thought he would feel grateful to Jonah Prouse, but he was. He could have done without that reminder of what could have happened as Jonah was leaving though. That was why he didn’t balk at joining Jake’s Rangers. He was a cop not a soldier, but those lines had been blurring more and more recently and would probably get a lot more blurry as time went on. He was beginning to doubt that help was ever coming. 

Just when he got a chance to get that thought into his head, hope was renewed. There was an airdrop of food and supplies for the town. When the riot started and the mayor failed to break it up, he drew his gun and fired a warning shot. He had no problem with people getting the food, but he wanted it done fairly and yes, he wanted his fair share too and if everyone took off with everything there would be way too many people, him included who got nothing. He cowered a bit when the mayor yelled at him for it, not that he would ever admit that. He did put his gun away quickly though. 

When Johnston mentioned the food from the drop lasting through the winter, Bill couldn’t keep his mouth shut anymore. “Through the winter? My family is hungry now, not when you decide it’s okay for them to be hungry.”

“This might be the last food we get,” Jake jumped in to argue. 

“Yeah, well, we’re not getting it, Jake. You are,” Bill snapped and moved closer to Jake aggressively. 

Jake held out his arms to his sides, unwilling to fight with Bill under any circumstances. “We’re hungry too, Bill!”

“Hey. Bill. Nobody here is /taking/ anything. If you’ll just wait, you’ll find that there’s plenty of this to go around,” Johnston said trying to defuse the situation and Bill backed down. Gray wasn’t so gracious. 

“You know it may come as a surprise to some of you Greens, but many of us can think for ourselves,” Gray retorted before walking away. 

When it came out that Jonah had stolen their generator and some of the food, Bill suddenly found himself volunteered for a run in with the outlaw and put his foot down. “Uh…All due respect Eric, but hell no.” Only when Johnston agreed that the whole group would go and that he had no intention of letting it devolve into a firefight did he agree to go. The fact that Jake was going had nothing to do with it. Not at all. 

Bill couldn’t help but be impressed with the way Emily got the generator back. She had played her own father like a pro. It took the kind of guts that he knew that he would never have. Once they got back to town, he pulled out all the stops to start getting the generator set up with Hawkins’ help. Once it was ready, he started getting nervous. “How do we know this thing isn’t some kind of bomb?” 

Hawkins looked at him and said, “Well Gray’s still alive so let’s risk it, huh?” 

When Hawkins asked him to hold off for ten minutes it was an easy decision. Without the man’s help, it would have taken at least another day to manage to get it set up and running. What was ten minutes? He easily agreed and settled against the generator to wait. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw Hawkins coming back with his family, and more so when he saw the smiles on the kid’s faces. These were the increasingly rare days when he loved his job. All in all it was a better thanksgiving than he had expected yesterday.


	5. Chapter 5

Bill was rocked to the core at the murder of Gracie Leigh. There hadn’t been a murder in this town in thirty years, and this one right in the middle of main street. Even with the new circumstances, he hadn’t thought that was possible. He agreed with Gray though. The mayor was still treating things as if they were normal, but they weren’t anymore, no matter how much they may wish they were. This was a whole new world now, and the mayor didn’t seem to have gotten that memo. As he and Jimmy were canvasing to see if anyone knew anything, he couldn’t help but comment, “Jonah better hope that Gray doesn’t find him. He says he’s gonna make an example out of him.”

“What’s he gonna do? String him up?” Jimmy asked horrified. “You can’t kill someone in the middle of main street.”

“Yeah? Tell that to Gracie Leigh,” Bill pointed out. “Gray came back from Topeka a changed man. He’s not messing around. And I, for one, think he’s got the right idea.”

“Wait a minute,” Jimmy looked surprised at him. “You’re not voting for Gray Anderson.”

Bill smirked. “I’m not gonna answer that. This is still America.” He was glad that his friendship with Jimmy could weather any difference of political opinion so he was free to let on his views despite the other man’s unfailing loyalty to mayor Green. 

Bill wasn’t an idiot. He knew that Gray wanted him to join his hunting party to give it a feel of legitimacy, but it was a lot better than running into a guy like Jonah Prouse alone, so he went along happily. He couldn’t help but narrow his eyes when he saw Jake at Emily’s house. Seemed she wasn’t quite so willing to wait for Roger to come home, but whatever. It wasn’t his problem. It wasn’t his business. Right now all that mattered was finding Jonah. That was the only reason he didn’t argue with Gray about watching the house. He had no interest in knowing anything that Jake and Emily got up to or even knowing how long he was going to stay, but if it helped them find Jonah, he would do it. He was still a cop, trying to catch a murderer.

Bill had been taking a circuit around when Jake snuck Kenchi in, so didn’t see it. He was rather annoyed that he was set to watch the house alone. It was at least a two person job just to cover all the exits, not to mention if he actually showed up. He did manage to catch some movement of someone leaving out the back though and got Gray on the radio to hunt him down. It didn’t take them long to catch him. It was like cornering a rabbit almost and thanks to that win, Gray was sworn in as the new mayor. His gamble had paid off. He had backed the right horse. 

It wasn’t long before Gray decided they needed to move Jonah to someplace more secure. It made sense. His men had walked right into the jail before as Bill remembered all too well. He didn’t want to end up in his own cell again after all so he had no qualms about the idea. He was just in the cell getting the criminal ready to move when who else but Jake Green came barreling in, along with his father and the kid from the market. He was so sure he was doing the right thing, right up until Jake said, “Mitch just told Dale that he would do to Dale what he did to Gracie if he didn’t go along with him.”

His doubts only intensified, when Gray just asked, “Did anyone else hear him say that?” When Dale said no, Gray just said, “That’s hardly proof.” It dawned on Bill that the only proof they had of Jonah’s guilt was the word of someone far less trustworthy than Dale. And not even an eyewitness. Just hearsay, same as this. 

“What, you think I’m lying? I’m not lying,” Dale protested. 

“He was trying to intimidate you. That doesn’t mean he actually did it,” Gray argued. Bill wasn’t so sure of that. It was possible. It made sense. But he had been a cop long enough to know that they were nowhere near any burden of proof for either side. He never would have made an arrest even on such scanty evidence before the bombs. Maybe he didn’t back the right horse after all. 

“This is unbelievable,” Jake scoffed. “You don’t even care who killed her. You just want Jonah.”

“I’ve /got/ Jonah,” Gray told him. 

“He’s innocent!” Jake exclaimed. 

Gray scoffed. “He’s far from innocent. He’s been preying on this town for years. From now on, guys like him go away! We don’t coddle them. We don’t make deals with them.”

“What are you planning on doing Gray? You gonna kill him in cold blood? Say he tried to escape while moving him to a secure location? Who’s gonna do it? Bill?” Bill looked up, pulled from his thoughts. “You gonna put a bullet in Jonah’s head when Gray tells you to?”

Bill looked alarmed. He hadn’t even considered that it might come to that, but now that it was being laid out he realized how naïve he had been. Of course it had been coming to that. Where else were they planning to take him? He looked at Jake, begging him to see that he didn’t want this. Whatever else he was, he couldn’t stand for Jake to think that of him. He glanced back at Gray and then back to Jake. “I’m not shooting anybody.” 

Jake gave Bill a very slight smile and a nod. He had known that no matter how bad things got, how cynical he got, he could never kill an unarmed man in cold blood. He turned to Gray. “It’s up to you Gray.” He held his gun out to him. “Go on…No?” Jake pulled Jonah to his knees in front of them. “This is what you want right? You make the rules? Decide who lives and dies? Go ahead and do it. But you do it here, in front of me and Dale, in front of everyone. Not in some back room with your buddies.” Bill looked between Jake and Gray, honestly torn. He knew that Jake was right. That if this was done secretly that was about as wrong as could be, but what if Gray took him up on it? What if he killed Jonah here? Could he really support someone like that? Could he really keep working for him? “Don’t let someone else do the dirty work for you mayor. You want him dead, you take this gun and you blow his brains out.”

Bill sucked in a sharp breath as Gray took the gun and he heard Johnston say, “Gray, no.”

“You better be damn sure he’s guilty. Because if he’s not, you’re a murderer. Justice will be swift.” Bill looked between Jake and Gray during this showdown, silently begging Gray not to do it. Not to put him in that position. He breathed a sigh of relief when Gray lowered his gun and Jake took it back, and what the hell did that mean that he was more comfortable with the questionably reformed criminal holding a gun than the mayor he owed his loyalty to? 

In the end, Bill could live with the arrangement. Jonah would be exiled. He would have to fend for himself out there with nothing. It was probably still a death sentence, but at least he would have a fighting chance. It wasn’t murder. He committed a crime, whether he was guilty of the murder or not. Being banished from town was a fitting punishment. It was the best they could do under the circumstances. Karma would take care of him. The rest was out of their hands.


	6. Chapter 6

Jake grinned as the music came over the jukebox. Now this was definitely worth it. He looked over the jukebox and finally found that song that he and Emily had been talking about. He knew that playing it would be a mistake. Especially since she was supposed to be here any minute. He knew that they could never work, even if her fiancée never came back. He just couldn’t help himself. She was familiar. Safe. Easy. He needed something like that in his life right now. He knew that it would just blow up on them both, but couldn’t deny the comfort that he could draw from her and her from him. They would have to take tomorrow when it came. That seemed to be the new motto around here anyway. 

Jake coaxed Emily into dancing with him and pulled her close, closing his eyes and letting the familiar feeling wash over him. He could almost forget that the bombs ever happened like this. Hell, he could almost forget the last four years ever happened. Right up until Emily asked, “What about Heather?” 

He pulled back to look at her. Heather? Really? They had shared one kiss when he was going into danger and hadn’t spoken since. Hell, he hadn’t even been the one to kiss her. She’d kissed him. How did that equate to anything between them? Still, since she’d brought up the subject. “What about Roger?” 

She sighed. “We know how this goes. We should be grown-ups and walk away right now.”

“You’re right. We should,” he agreed. He’d known that before he even started this. But he couldn’t, and she wasn’t making any move to leave either. In fact, she was moving closer. She rested her forehead against his and just before their lips met, his brother was calling him to go outside. He rushed outside after his brother and many other people as well. 

“They need help. Take them inside. Jake,” Eric gestured to the people walking down the street. “Some of them were on planes that landed in the middle of nowhere. They’ve been walking for weeks.”

Jake looked them over with wide eyes. “They must have gone through hell.” 

Jake heard Emily breath out, “Oh my god. Roger,” and spun to look at the group, trying to pick him out despite not knowing what he even looked like. It looked like he wasn’t going to get his comfort after all, but he should have expected that. Did expect it really. He didn’t deserve it. Especially not from someone that he’d already hurt as much as he had Emily. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her more. This was a good thing. She had him to take care of her now, and he was alone. The way he should be. 

Jake mingled with the refugees for a few minutes before he spotted Emily and who he assumed was Roger in the crowd and walked over. “Hey. Are there any more people out there? We could send a search party.” 

Roger looked at him and said, “21 men and 32 women.” Jake nodded and went to start counting people to make sure everyone made it inside. When he ran into Emily later and she tried to talk to him about what almost happened between them, he just brushed her off. She didn’t need to explain. It was clear to him the moment Roger got here what she had to do…and what he had to do. He told her to go take care of him. And let him take care of you, he didn’t say. 

 

Bill was relieved when Roger made it back. He wished he hadn’t brought so many extra mouths to feed with him, but it was what it was. Just because he could never have Jake for himself didn’t mean he wanted to watch him with Emily. It opened too many old wounds. Seeing him with anyone would hurt, but especially with Emily. Whenever the Rangers and the deputies teamed up for things in town, Bill managed to foist Jake off on Jimmy. He was technically the senior deputy so he had a little sway there. He definitely didn’t want Jake with him, but he wanted to make sure that someone he trusted was watching his back. Or just keeping an eye on him. He wasn’t even sure anymore. Did he trust Jake or didn’t he?

When they started finding people freezing to death in their homes, Gray called a meeting. Bill was still processing the refugees and let Jimmy go to the meeting instead. He knew that Jake would be there and didn’t really want to run into him. He knew that Jimmy and Gray would bring him up to speed later. He unconsciously echoed Johnston Green’s thoughts when he found out that Jake was heading out to trade. It always seemed to be Jake jumping into these things. Bill wondered what trouble he would find this time. Once they got back, he realized that he had been right. Of course, they found trouble. At least this time he’d managed to get out of it without getting the whole town into trouble with him. And it seemed to have paid off. They would be getting a wind turbine anyway. 

Bill had been off on patrol when Gail Green had come in looking for help when Jake was in trouble. He had apparently been run off the road and nearly died of frostbite. Bill forced the thought out of his mind and got on with his business, avoiding Jake as much as possible, which seemed to be going pretty well. Even when the marines came through, he kept busy enough to stay out of sight. It wasn’t like it was difficult. He was let in on the secret that they weren’t actually marines though. He was one of only three Ranger’s not involved with the whole mess, so it made sense that those three would be told. 

April’s death hit the whole town hard. Not only was she the only remaining doctor, if you didn’t count the drunk and the med student that had arrived later, but she was practically family. And the baby…He couldn’t imagine what Eric was going through. He might have bailed to New Bern in Eric’s place too. It was a crappy situation all around. Just when they thought things couldn’t get worse, they always did. His avoiding Jake came to a rather abrupt end when word got out that the marines weren’t coming though. He was trying to keep order on ration day when he came strolling into the office. “You better get in there. I think we really screwed ourselves this time.”

“You said everyone in the shelters gets half rations until the marines come. Well, the marines aren’t coming and you’ve known all along,” Roger was arguing with Gray. 

“We did the best that we could,” Gray defended himself. “People had to believe that help was on the way. And you know what? Half rations is a lot more than those refugees had before they got here.”

Emily looked at Jake. “Did you know about this?” she asked accusingly. “That the marines were con-artists?” 

“Yeah. But we didn’t give them any of our supplies and Gray is right. The last thing this town needs is to lose hope,” Jake tried to explain. 

“Hope won’t keep my friends from starving. I’ve got one woman too weak to walk,” Roger argued. 

“It’s a mathematical problem,” Gray said helplessly. “We’ve got your friends plus another 50 who migrated here. That’s too many people and not enough food.”

“We’ll just have to figure out how to make what we have last,” Jake said seriously. 

Bill jumped into the conversation at that. “I say the first thing we do is stop giving it away to strangers.” He ignored the scathing looks he got from Jake, Emily, and Roger. The last two were easy to ignore, but he hated seeing Jake look at him like that. Gray, Harry, and himself went into a meeting to discuss it. 

“What if we cut the food rations in half…again?” Gray asked with a sigh. 

“It’s more than just the food. What about medicine?” Harry pointed out. “Those refugees came here sick. They’ve been burning through our meds for a month.”

“Can we make it to spring Harry?” Gray asked despondently. 

“Some of us can. Not all,” Harry told him. 

Bill took the opportunity to jump in with his two cents. “Crime’s been going up since they got here.”

“Crime’s been going up since the bombs,” Gray said dismissively. 

“It’s gotta be done. The numbers speak for themselves,” Bill argued. “Just look at them.”

“I don’t need to look at them. I see them in my sleep,” Gray snapped. 

“What are you gonna do?” Bill asked, needing to cut the crap and get a resolution here. He had better things to do than stand here arguing over necessity. Gray finally saw reason though and they headed down to the refugee center to let them know they were being evicted. When some of them tried to resist, he tried to exert his authority. “You heard the mayor. You need to start packing up,” he walked up to the ringleader and stared him down. When he kept arguing, Bill tried to shut him down and ended up getting hit and starting a near riot before he managed to get himself and the other deputies out of there. 

Before that incident, Bill was sympathetic to their plight, but now he turned cold towards them. He didn’t care anymore. They had tried. They had given more than they had any right to. And this was the thanks they got?


	7. Chapter 7

When Gray asked him if the town had anything for crowd control, Bill went to get the tear gas. It had never been used, but it was something that any sheriff’s office keeps stocked. After he handed it to Gray he found himself held back by Jake. “What the hell, Bill? Why are you doing this. You’re better than this.”

Bill shook Jake off of him. “I’m doing what I swore to do when I picked up this badge. Protecting this town,” he snapped. 

“Not like this, Bill,” Jake argued. “You can’t use a badge to justify the murder of a hundred people.”

“A hundred people…or more…are going to die anyway, Jake. Out there they have a chance. In here…we’re all doomed. I’m doing what’s necessary,” Bill said coldly and turned away just in time to hear banging from inside the church basement. He rushed over and then told Gray, “They’re boarding up the windows.”

After Gray threw the tear gas, Bill watched in horror as a woman was trampled to death in the stampede out of the church, but soon steeled his resolve. They brought it on themselves. He steadfastly ignored the look Jake gave him and clung to his stance. Backing down now would be worse. The only way out of this was through. Once they had a head count, Bill reported to Gray. “One of the refugees is still out there.”

“Have the Rangers search the barns. Use dogs if it’ll help,” Gray said as he stared hauntedly out the window.

“And the rest of them?” Harry asked. 

“Just take them to the med center and get them fixed up Harry,” Gray told him. 

“And then send them away?” Harry confirmed and Gray nodded. “What about the extra food you promised them?”

“Give it to them,” Gray said as though it should be obvious.

“After what they did to us!” Bill protested. 

“Would you just do it. Before somebody else gets hurt,” Gray snapped. Bill gave him a hard look and headed out to carry out his orders. 

When he heard the gunshot and found out what was going on, Bill fought with himself for a long time before deciding a course of action. He had never killed a person. Never even shot a person, but letting his mayor die was out of the question. He went into the office and grabbed the sniper rifle. He wasn’t counting on being seen by Jake. “Bill!” He yelled and came running after him. Bill just ran. He didn’t know if he could handle another confrontation with Jake today. “Bill, don’t!” Jake called as he ran after him. “Bill!”

Bill cursed internally as Jake caught up to him. “You think I want to?!” Bill said helplessly. “Roger is a friend of mine, but I can’t let the mayor bleed to death!”

“What if you miss, huh?” Jake asked worriedly. “What if you hit Emily?” Jake pushed the guy at the bottom of the ladder away from him. “Get off me!”

Bill paused for a moment at that thought. If he hit Emily, he would never forgive himself. He doubted he would live to. Jake would probably kill him first. Even if he didn’t, he would never forgive him either. Bill knew that Emily meant more to Jake than he ever would, but as much as that thought hurt, he’d long ago dealt with that and filed it away. He started back up the ladder again. “If I get the shot, Jake, I’m taking it.” He would just be sure not to miss. If there was one thing he was it was a good shot.

Bill made it to the roof and took a deep breath to steel himself for what he was going to do before loading the gun and taking aim. He let out a frustrated breath when Emily was in the way and then Jake burst in. At least that got Emily away from Roger. He took a moment to line up, trying to keep up with the movement in the room and pulled the trigger a second too late. Roger moved at the last second and now he wouldn’t get another shot. At least he was reasonably sure that he hadn’t hit anyone else. Now he just had to hope that Jake could talk him down, and wasn’t that a ridiculous idea. Jake as a diplomat? Please. 

It seemed that Jake must have said something. Or Emily or Gray did, but he heard Jimmy announce that they were coming out and he moved to the other side of the building and got ready. He wouldn’t take the shot if he didn’t have to, but he wasn’t going to be derelict in his duty. That thought changed the second he saw the gun to Jake’s head. He was glad that he didn’t get a chance to see if he would have taken the shot anyway. Jimmy was too quick taking him down. He didn’t think he wanted to know what he would have done there. 

He was thankfully a lot calmer when the time came to send Roger away. He watched impassively as he was exiled in the same manner as Jonah Prouse. He had once counted Roger as a friend. That was before he put a gun to Jake Green’s head, though. And before he had held the mayor hostage. He didn’t recognize the man who was leaving here. That wasn’t his friend. He didn’t spare a thought to the fact that he was unrecognizable from the person he was before all this too. Most of the town was, really, but right now, all that mattered was Roger. He didn’t feel bad for him. He’d brought it on himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Bill breathed a sigh of relief when the men showed up from New Bern with the wind turbines. They were able to power the whole town now and just in time. After the whole debacle with the marines and the refugees something had to give. Hearing that Eric was missing was a blow, but he bought the story about him not being ready to come back. If he had been in Eric’s shoes he didn’t think he would be either. He was feeling rather grateful to New Bern at the moment so he was more than a little annoyed when he got word that a party from New Bern was trying to get into the salt mine and he and Gray headed up there in advance of the rest of the deputies to try and resolve things peacefully. It was worse than he had expected though. “This doesn’t look good. It could turn into a full blown riot.”

Gray agreed. “As our guys show up, you keep them back out of sight. I don’t want these New Bern guys getting trigger happy.” Bill nodded his acceptance and moved back to a watching position where he would also be well poised if it came to a fight as Gray addressed the trespassers. “This salt mine is private property. You have 30 seconds to get the hell out of here.” Bill couldn’t help from rolling his eyes. Yeah, that was the way to handle it peacefully. It was almost like Gray /wanted/ a riot, and it seemed to be going that way if the grumbles were any indication. At least Gray waited until the other deputies got there before escalating things any more. “I should arrest you right here Russel.”

Dale jumped in at that. “This is not his fault. We had a deal with him and New Bern.” Bill groaned. It seemed like this was more of a contract dispute than anything. He had heard about the girl trying to claim her families stake of the mine and he thought Gray was being stupid about it. There was plenty of middle ground he could take on that issue that could have prevented all of this. 

“Gray what the hell is this?” One of the mine workers asked, Bill couldn’t see which one. 

“There’s no deal. I’m not giving away anything,” Gray said clearly. 

Russell at least seemed to have some sense as he walked over to Dale and told him, “Look we’ll think of something. Right now we need to stand down.”

Of course, Dale couldn’t be as sensible. “No, we’re not leaving without our salt.”

The Stevens kid jumped in at that. “It’s not worth people getting hurt.” Internally Bill was praying that Dale would listen to her. They could deal with this issue in the daylight, in the office, like reasonable people. 

“She’s right,” Russell told Dale. “Alright everybody…”

Dale cut him off. “What are you doing?” 

Russell turned to him and snapped, “Look Dale, I’m not gonna let people get killed over this.”

“This was your idea!” Dale protested. 

Bill could believe that. That was the difference between a kid and a man though. A man knew when to back down and come up with a new idea. A kid just wanted to barrell through regardless of consequences, and Gray wasn’t helping the matter when he came barreling over and grabbed them both as he said, “Alright this is over. Get your guys out of here,” He shoved Russell and moved past him.

Bill was sure it was that rough handling that Russell objected to as he grabbed Gray. “Hey. Gray. Come on…” They were cut off by the sound of gunshots and then all hell broke loose. Bill cursed when he took a bullet. It was just a flesh wound though. It wouldn’t slow him down much. Once the shots stopped, he stripped off his jacket and pressed it to his arm to stem the bleeding as he started helping people get to the med center. 

When Gail offered to look at his arm he shook his head. “No, it’s okay. I can wait.” He followed Gray down the hall. “We shouldn’t be patching those guys up. We should be arresting them. They opened fire on us,” Bill told him. He knew that he was being unreasonable, but he was sore and cranky and it was better than putting the blame on the mayor for the whole thing. Only the fact that he knew that Gray would never agree with him had him saying it in the first place. 

“We don’t know who shot first, okay. I’ll get to an investigation. Right now, we need to make sure people don’t die.” Bill stopped arguing. He knew that Gray was right. He really just wanted someone to yell at and someone to blame. In all his years on the job, he had never been shot before and he didn’t like it. The fact that he’d barely slept in months definitely didn’t help. 

No sooner than he was patched up…after everyone else of course, he learned that there was major trouble in New Bern and Jake had gone to get Eric and not come back and then Johnston had gone after them both. Why couldn’t Jake just stay out of trouble for one freaking day? Was that really so much to ask? When they got home and told their story it was all Bill could do to keep his cool. This was ridiculous. War with the neighboring town? What was this world coming to? He knew that no matter what happened next, he was going to end up between a rock and a hard place and quickly decided his course of action. When there are no good answers, sometimes all you can do is shut up and take orders. It was Gray’s job to get them out of this mess. That’s what he was elected for, and Bill would do his job and support him. 

When the time was up on the deadline, Bill decided someone had to speak up. “Should we call Constantino?”

“I don’t have anything to tell him,” Gray said nervously, but clearly not budging from his position. “And I’m not just going to give the town away.”

When the mortars started falling and he got outside, Bill would never admit that he froze. Just looking at the scene and knowing that it was the next town over that was attacking them was so surreal and there was so much to be done that in that moment he didn’t even know where to begin. All of his training just seemed to abandon him. Thankfully, Gray seemed to think faster and started handing out orders and Bill hopped to. At least someone had some idea what to do. He sent some people to do everything that Gray said and kept his position guarding the mayor. 

They went back inside when Constantino was on the radio and Bill was getting a really bad feeling about all this. The threat of more mortars scared the hell out of him. And pissed him off. Once the argument was over they were back in the street and Bill joined the others trying to get people stable and off to the med center or indoors. It seemed like no time at all before the clock was winding down on the new deadline and there was a group of them gathered in the basement of town hall. 

Bill breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Stanley come over the radio. They had the mortars in sight. This could be over soon. He could see both sides of the argument that came up over the situation. It would be better if they had a better idea what they were walking into, but there were only a few minutes left until the next round of mortars would fall. There wasn’t time to be careful. Eric tried to make a grab for the radio, and guns got drawn, but Bill kept his securely holstered. This was not to shooting territory yet. Not even close. When Gray gave the order for Stanley to take them out, Bill just prayed that it wouldn’t end badly. Those guys out there were his friends. His neighbors. He didn’t want them to die any more than he wanted the civilians in the town to die if those bombs fell. After a few minutes he was getting antsy. “How do we know if it worked?” He didn’t get an answer. Well until the mortars started falling again that was. That was enough of an answer and he didn’t think he had enough hope to believe that any of the Rangers survived that run. 

Once the mortars stopped falling, they all made a beeline outside and Bill didn’t know whether to be relieved that some of them came back or dismayed at how few of them did. When Jake tried to attack the mayor, he didn’t step in. There were plenty of people to break it up and he didn’t honestly know what side he would have taken in the heat of the moment. He refused to consider what it meant that his chosen side required forethought but the other one just seemed so natural. He refused to let the mob mentality take him. He would do his job. Protect the mayor. Protect the civilians. Even when it sucked. 

After the confrontation outside, Bill was understandably annoyed when Jimmy brought Eric in. This was pretty much the opposite of keeping the peace. Not to mention, he wasn’t exactly keen on anyone else seeing the mayor curled up in his chair like a child trying to hide from the world. “Jimmy! Why’d you bring Eric in here?” 

“They just want to talk for a second,” Jimmy said placatingly. 

Bill had his reasons for not wanting them there though and he turned out to be right. It didn’t take long at all for things to deteriorate. Once guns started coming out, Bill had no choice but to draw his own. The worst part was, Jimmy was siding with Eric and Stanley. Bill took the middle ground and just tried to keep everyone covered as they tried to keep everyone calm. The last thing they needed was a gunfight in the middle of the town hall basement. 

When Eric mentioned that Jake and Johnston were out there trying to take out the mortars and Hawkins was with him, he resisted the urge to curse. What the hell was it with Greens and taking matters into their own hands? The last party didn’t even come back. Hearing that Jonah Prouse was with them was just the icing on the cake. He didn’t have to be a genius to know this was going to end badly. Gray wasn’t doing too bad at stalling, but Constantino wasn’t having it. Bill braced himself for the next round, but they never came. When Johnston came back and told them that the mortars had been taken out, Bill was extremely glad to hear it. For about a minute. Until Constantino declared total war. Bill breathed a sigh of relief when Gray asked Johnston for help. He hadn’t thought the mayor had it in him, but Johnston Green had fought a war before. They would all need his help. 

Bill hated the idea of arming all the civilians and putting them out there on the battlefield, but there was no question of that fact that it was necessary. There was no way the Rangers and the deputies could hold off the army New Bern had heading their way alone. It was time for everyone to come together. No more avoiding people. No more avoiding anything. He had to make peace with his issues with Jake now. They would both be on the front lines of this war. They had to be able to trust each other. 

The next days were filled with constant fighting. Bill had thrown off his uniform and went with civilian clothes. No need to make himself more of a target for the bad guys, and the message that it sent wasn’t needed out there on the battlefield. After yet another failed defense they had a war council. Johnston said they needed to quit splitting up and take a stand together. Bill agreed with him but it begged the question of how. He was one of the first out at the farm getting things ready. When they told him that he would be in the tank, the little boy left inside him was overjoyed. It wasn’t about being out of the line of fire. Being in the tank was just awesome. He was in awe as he came up out of the tank after he fired. “Did you see what I just did?”

It wasn’t long before Jake came over to kill the celebrations. “Alright that bought us some time. They’ll be back and there will be more of them. It won’t be near as easy next time.”

“Easy? You thought that was easy?” Bill asked incredulously. Granted for him it was. If you didn’t count having to learn how to aim and fire a tank in a ten minute tutorial. But for everyone else, easy was the last word he would use. His thoughts were borne out when it was noticed that Johnston Green was hit. Bill wasn’t long behind them as they brought Johnston back to the house. He was sitting there watching in horror. He could see that there was little to no chance of him surviving this one and he felt for Jake. He wished there was more he could do. It was funny how sitting outside the house waiting for news was even worse than watching. 

Bill knew the second Jake stepped outside that it was over. Johnston was dead. He could see it in Jake’s eyes and his heart broke. Both for the loss and for Jake. It was a long time before he seemed to find the words. “My father’s dead…We’ll get through,” Jake said before heading back in the house and waving the rest of the leadership, if such a loose term would apply, in after him. That settled it. Any man who could take a hit like that and keep fighting, he would follow into battle any day. He followed Stanley, Gray, and Jimmy inside and closed the door behind him. 

Jake’s next words only intensified his growing respect. “Get Gray back to town.” Gray tried to protest. “Come tomorrow, what’s left of us will need a leader. I think we’ve lost enough in that department for one day.”

“We’re gonna need every set of hands we can get,” Gray told him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re too important now Gray,” Jake replied. “It’s not negotiable. Get him an escort.” Bill nodded. “And start getting everyone into position. Who knows when they’re going to come back again.” That seemed to be the cue for Emily to get back with Gail and they vacated the house again to give Gail some time. He saw Jake slip away around the back of the house and was about to go after him, but then Emily beat him to it. For the first time, he didn’t feel that familiar stab of pain at the idea of them together. She would be able to help Jake far more than he would. 

Bill watched nervously as Jimmy handed the radio to Jake. Constantino wanted to talk apparently. Bill heard the request for surrender, and he knew that Jake would never take it, and he didn’t want him to. This needed to end. Now. One way or another. Jake’s initial response confused him, but there was no mistaking the follow-up. He couldn’t help but smile proudly at Jake as he turned back to address them and then they were getting into position. Not long after the shooting started there were planes overhead and the next thing they knew there were fires springing up between the armies. It seemed the government had come to their rescue after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Things managed to get better after the army arrived. Bill actually managed to get a full night’s sleep again and he was glad about that. They had lost a lot. Too much. But it was over now. Bill spent a lot of his free time either taking care of Jimmy’s family or in the hospital sitting with him. It had been almost a month since the end of the fighting before he managed to run into Jake again. Bill had been busy and Jake had been making himself scarce. That and Bill just couldn’t stand to watch his domestic happiness with Emily these days. He wasn’t quite as bitter as he was over it. Nor as conflicted. But it didn’t mean it was easy to watch. 

Bill knew that Jake had been by to see Jimmy often, but this was the first time their path’s crossed. Bill rolled his eyes when Jimmy objected to the obstructed view of the television. “You’ve been watching the same thing for a week now. It’s just the same story over and over again. What is it you think you’re gonna miss?” 

“I’m waiting for them to explain what happened with the flag,” Jimmy said sadly. 

Bill looked amusedly at Jake before turning back to Jimmy. “They have explained. About four hundred times. They’re putting the country back together, but not everybody’s on board yet. Just the states west of the Mississippi.”

Jake decided it was time to change the subject. If Jimmy didn’t get it yet he probably wouldn’t. “Today was Pete Brighton’s operation. I came by to see how it went.”

“And?” Bill looked at Jake hopefully. 

Jake sighed and looked down for a moment before meeting Bill’s eyes again. “I’m surprised he lasted that long with all the shrapnel he took.” 

Jake reached out and put his hand on Bill’s shoulder comfortingly and Bill couldn’t help but lean into the touch, moving closer to Jake. “So…what’s the total now? 64?”

“Five. Sixty-five,” Jake corrected. 

“Sixty five dead,” Bill said softly. “I gotta say. I don’t know what kind of punishment this Beck guy has in store for New Bern,” he looked into Jake’s eyes. “But I’d like to be there when it goes down.” Jake nodded in agreement.

It was only a couple of days before he got word that Jake was his new boss. What was this world coming to when Jake freaking Green was the sheriff of Jericho? So much for avoiding him. He knew that Jake would do a good job though. If there was one thing he’d learned recently it was that protecting this town and it’s people was Jake’s number one priority and it wasn’t like Bill wanted the job for himself. He didn’t need the headache. Especially not in their current situation. He was self-aware enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to cut it. Not even close, and he, along with most of the town, would gladly die for Jake Green these days. He had the loyalty of the people and the guts and smarts to do the job. He would make a good sheriff. Even if he didn’t wear the uniform, which didn’t surprise Bill in the slightest. 

When he found out that the president was coming to Jericho, Bill couldn’t help but agree with Jake. They weren’t anywhere near ready for this, but it was coming anyway and all they could do was their best. At least the deputies weren’t going to be in the thick of things. They would be taking care of the rest of town while secret service along with Sheriff Green took care of the president’s area. Unfortunately, it would mean missing the speech too, but he would find out about it later. It would probably be televised forever just like all the other news stories lately. 

Bill looked at Jake in alarm when Ravenwood got back to town. Was he really going to stand for this? In the end he wasn’t given a choice. None of them were. Only the fact that he knew that Jake fought it with everything he had gave him comfort. Not only did they let New Bern off the hook but then they brought these murders here? He wasn’t so sure about this new government anymore. 

When it became obvious the damage they were doing, Bill wanted to go to the meeting at Bailey’s, but Jake wouldn’t let him. “I need you to stay clean in all this, Bill. If I go down, you’re the best hope for this town.”

“What do you mean?” Bill asked.

Jake put a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Without me, it’s down to you or Jimmy for sheriff. Jimmy doesn’t have what it takes to do what needs to be done.”

“And you think I do?” Bill asked, voice raised an octave as he shook his head. “No. No way. I’m not a leader, Jake. Not like you. I couldn’t handle it.”

Jake just smiled a little and squeezed his shoulder. “You’re stronger than you think you are, Bill. Always have been. You’ll be fine. And I promise, I’ll keep you up to date on everything, but you need to keep your distance, okay?” Jake kept eye contact until Bill nodded slowly. 

Bill started to see what Jake meant though when it wasn’t two days later that the sheriff’s office was being set up with higher security. He saw Jake’s confusion when he came in and tried to explain. “It’s Fort Knox back there.”

Jake moved over to stand close to Bill as he asked, “What is that?” 

“Thumbprint scanner.” Bill tried to look busy as they talked. “Getting that room ready to house classified information. It’s a pretty short list of people that’ll have access.”

“Let me guess. I’m not on it,” Jake said knowingly. 

Bill nodded and turned to him, abandoning the pretense of work. “But if it’s any consolation, you now hold the distinction of being the first Jericho sheriff, in history, who doesn’t have a key to the sheriff’s office,” he teased. 

“Who does have access?” Jake asked him. 

“Just the officers…uh…there’s a list floating around here somewhere…” Bill looked around for it for a moment before he found it. “Yeah, here you go.” He handed it over before he walked off. 

It wasn’t long before Jake’s insistence that Bill stay clean flew out the window when Ravenwood took Dale Turner. He knew it wouldn’t be long before they crossed a line. He, along with Eric and Stanley, backed Jake up to get him back. “We want Dale Turner,” Jake said as they went in. “Get him out here.”

“Can’t do it, sheriff,” Goetz replied. 

“This is not a jail, and you don’t just hold people. If Dale’s accused of a crime, the sheriff’s office will investigate,” Eric told him and Bill nodded. It had been his job for more than a decade now and he’d be damned if he was gonna give it up to mercenaries.

“That won’t be necessary,” Goetz told them. “A truck full of contraband meets my burden of proof.”

“You can’t keep him here forever,” Jake protested. 

“I agree,” Goetz said smugly. “I turned him over to the military police ten minutes ago. He’s on his way to Luma Ridge Prison as we speak.” 

Bill’s eyes widened at that, but Eric beat him to the verbal response. “You sent him to prison?” 

“The kid is guilty,” Goetz said frustratedly. “The authority is mine. I’m sending a message. There’s no place for thieves in Jericho.”

Bill shook his head and lead the charge to the cars to stop this. This wasn’t right. No trial, no jury, no nothing. Stanley was the one who voiced it though. “If he’s saying he can throw us in prison whenever he wants, what makes you think that stops with Dale.”

“The vaccines, the registration, the gouging, now this?” Eric put in his two cents. 

“We’re losing this town,” Jake pointed out before turning to Bill. “We gotta get there alright? They got a ten minute head start.”

Bill agreed with them. Really. But someone had to point out the obvious. “Chasing that truck is a good way to get ourselves shot at.”

“Probably,” Jake replied and then brushed it off as he turned to Eric. “Go find Beck. I need you to relay a message.”

“You know what he’s gonna say,” Eric told him. “He doesn’t have the authority to do anything.”

“We’re gonna give him the authority,” Jake told him before laying out the plan. Bill just hoped that Beck would play ball. He wasn’t holding out much hope, but he would follow Jake Green anywhere, so he got in the car and drove like a bat out of hell. As the truck approached their position, they all got out of the car and put their hands high in the air, Jake showing his badge and wanting to prove that they were unarmed. At least they had listened to Bill’s concerns and were doing it smart. When the truck stopped, Jake said, “Let me do the talking.” Bill wasn’t going to argue with that. 

“Keep your hands up. Clear the road,” the soldier said as he got out and Bill managed to suppress the smart ass comment that they couldn’t do both. 

“There’s been a mistake,” Jake told him. “I’m the sheriff. The kid should be in my custody.”

“Clear the road or I will shoot,” the soldier said. Bill was getting nervous, but he stood his ground through the argument and when Beck called, he held his relief. It still remained to be seen if the Major would go along with it. Bill wasn’t surprised at Jake’s speech to Beck. If there was one thing Jake was good at it was talking people into stupid things. He could attest to that. It seemed that Jake’s skills were as good as ever because a few minutes later they were driving away with Dale.


	10. Chapter 10

No sooner than they got back, they got a call from Stanley and hightailed it out to the farm. He was met with a scene from his worst nightmares. He’d seen plenty of death since the bombs, but this was different. This was cold blooded murder. Of a kid even. All the bullet holes, the ambulance, and Bonnie. Jesus, Bonnie. She was just a kid. She was Stanley’s whole world. He had watched her grow up. He had been there for Stanley when his parents died. Hell, he had helped Stanley raise her when he could. He was just standing there in horrified shock. He managed to shake it off after a few minutes and go do his job. Jimmy hadn’t been long behind them and they canvassed the area before going to report to Jake. 

“Mimi going to be okay?” Jimmy asked for the both of them. 

“She’s lost a lot of blood,” Jake told them, which they both knew meant that he didn’t know. “What do you got?” he asked. 

“The weapons were nine millimeters. The tire tracks out front…look like a Humvee,” Bill told him with a hard look that promised retribution.

“Ravenwood,” Eric said what they were all thinking. “But why? What did they want here?” 

“Whatever they wanted Mimi wasn’t supposed to survive,” Jake pointed out. 

“What do we do?” Bill asked him. 

Jake thought for a second before saying, “Alright, gather the Rangers at the med center. She needs protection. Ravenwood does not get near her.” Bill heard the steel in his voice and nodded before heading out to do just that. 

Jake wasn’t long showing up at the med center himself and Bill had everyone gathered at registration waiting for him. The sheriff started handing out weapons as he said, “Beck’s gone to New Bern. We’re on our own.” Bill wasn’t surprised. They always seemed to be on their own. Especially against Ravenwood. As Jake was handing out assignments, Stanley was headed to the morgue with Bonnie’s body. Bill didn’t think they could afford to have two of the Rangers off guard, but couldn’t deny that Jake was right. The last thing Stanley needed right now was to be alone, and no one was going to say that he couldn’t be with his sister. 

Of course, Bill would be the one to spot Goetz first and immediately went running for Jake who followed him to the door. Bill watched the confrontation and was impressed with the way Jake stood his ground. At least Ravenwood hadn’t drawn their guns yet. He caught the almost imperceptible signal from Jake and opened the door, pulling his gun to cover Jake’s retreat back inside. He and Jake were going over the floor plans when the lights went out. “I guess we knew this was coming,” Bill grabbed the rifle and headed towards the door. 

“Lets get the other barricades done now,” Jake said following him. “We don’t have much time.” When Ravenwood grabbed Gary’s wife and he left, Bill didn’t blame him a bit. He would have done the same in his position. He took the rifle back from him and they let him go. He could see in Jake’s face that he was pissed, but not at Gary. At Ravenwood. This was beyond the pale. Jimmy was understandably freaked about the idea of Ravenwood going after their families and he didn’t blame them. He was suddenly glad that his mother and sister had left town as soon as the roads were clear. They had a sudden craving for civilization after everything that happened and he couldn’t blame them. At least they would be out of the line of fire for this. He had no one for them to use. If it came down to it, at least he and Jake would still be here. Even if it was suicide with just the two of them. He wasn’t leaving. 

He was surprised that more people didn’t leave after that, but he knew that they would. Once their families started being abducted and trotted out for Ravenwood’s purposes, they would start leaving in droves. They were startled by a knock at the door. Bill stayed ready to shoot as Jimmy let Robert Hawkins inside who seemed to have one of Goetz’ men prisoner. Bill was glad to see him though. Not only because they now had their own leverage, but he knew that Hawkins was good with a gun. 

When it turned out they had a mole, Jake put Bill and Jimmy on a special assignment. Bill had to admit that the plan was a good one. Subterfuge to avoid a fight was always the best way to do it. He couldn’t resist teasing Jimmy a bit as they were knocking the hole in the wall. When the time came to complete the ruse, he wasn’t trusting anyone else to watch Jake’s back until they were sure that Ravenwood had come and gone. Bill turned a blind eye to Fred’s begging for forgiveness. It didn’t matter who they threatened. He should have done the honorable thing, like Gary, and just walked away. Spying on them and nearly getting them all killed…there was no forgiveness for that. 

At least they got some decent info from Fred. It seemed he had no loyalty to anyone. They followed Ravenwood out to their meeting and got to see Goetz and his men being fired and tried to take them alive, but Ravenwood started shooting and they returned fire until only Goetz was left. Before they could take him in, Russell and a crew from New Bern came out of the woodwork and wanted him. Before anything could be decided, Stanley came up and just put a bullet in Goetz before anyone could stop him and Bill watched in shock. He couldn’t believe that Stanley had done that and wasn’t at all surprised that he retched afterwards. 

Bill was annoyed that they were stuck hiding out. He didn’t agree with it. “We should go plead our case to Beck. Goetz was a murderer. It had to be done,” he looked at Jake begging him to agree with him. 

“Unfortunately, Beck said no revenge killings. He’s not gonna let it go,” Jake replied and Bill deflated. He had known that, but as a cop, being on the run from the law just didn’t sit right with him. 

Bill didn’t notice Jake slipping out the back. If he had, he would never have let him go. None of them would have. The first clue they had was when Heather came barreling in. “Beck took Jake.”

Eric was the first to his feet. “What? Where?”

“I don’t know. Jake tried to surrender and they put a hood over his head and they dragged him away,” she told them and Bill cursed internally. What the hell did the idiot think he was doing? If it wasn’t okay for Stanley to surrender, why would he think it would be okay for him to?

“I don’t think it’s safe for us to stay here,” Bill said.

“Jake isn’t going to talk,” Emily scoffed. Bill hoped she was wrong. He hoped that Jake spilled his guts to Beck, because he had a pretty good idea what Beck would do to him if he didn’t and he couldn’t deal with that. 

“He won’t have to,” Heather told them. “At the rate Beck is going, it’ll only be a couple of days before he finds this place.”

Bill couldn’t believe that Jimmy was the one to suggest letting Stanley turn himself in, but no one was having it. He was just glad Eric came up with another way. He wasn’t going to balk at anything that got him Jake back. The setup was easy. In fact, the whole thing was easy. Too easy. It seemed the military was so sure of their superiority they got complacent. In the end they had the entire convoy for themselves and the leverage they needed. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. 

It was days before they got a break, and Bill felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin if they didn’t do something soon. Gail came back from her visit. “I delivered the message to Jake. I need a map.” 

Bill jumped up and asked, “Did you see where they took you?” 

“No, I was blindfolded. I couldn’t see a think, but I think I can help you find him,” Gail told them and Bill desperately hoped she was right. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to figure out that Jake was being held out at the hog farm out on 48 and they immediately mounted up to go get him. 

Once they got close enough to see the guards, Eric said, “This is definitely the place they’ve got Jake.”

Jimmy took a circuit around the building and came back with a report. “Two sentries at the door. M4s, sidearms. Humvee, driver. That’s it.” 

“Well what are we waiting for?” Bill said getting antsy. 

Eric nodded. “Let’s go get him.”

Bill wanted to be part of the team that went to get Jake out, but he knew he was needed elsewhere. He was the best shot of the Rangers and he was also the best driver, so he helped to cover them until they got out and then drove them the hell out of there. He glanced back a few times to see how Jake was, but couldn’t spare much attention and Emily had him. He was alive. That was all that mattered, really. He was alive and would stay that way. Everything else they could fix. 

They got Jake sequestered away, and Bill didn’t balk at Hawkins getting him out of town. He had no idea what they were really doing, but anywhere was safer than here for Jake at the moment. They headed back to the meeting place just in time for Mary to show up and update them on what was going on in the town. When Eric said they were running out of options, Bill replied, “I think our options are pretty clear. Either we start shooting back or we give up our homes.”

When Russell showed up and offered a meeting with Constantino to help them, Bill completely agreed with Stanley. There was no way they were getting into bed with that monster. That was a line that he would never cross. And not only because Jake would never stand for it. His sense of justice would never stand for it either. He did not agree with Stanley going to bury Bonnie right now though, but he wouldn’t be stopped. He looked at Eric for instructions and was quick to follow Stanley to get it done as quickly as possible. Hopefully before Beck’s men noticed. 

They were still digging the hole when Eric and Mary got there. “What are you doing here?” Bill asked. 

“We came to help,” Eric replied. “You were right,” he told Stanley.

“Right about what?” Stanley asked.

“Constantino. There’s something he lost that I don’t wanna ever give up. I mean, we’re right, Cheyenne is wrong, but the moment we start killing American soldiers, all that changes,” Eric told him. 

Emily asked what they were all thinking. “So what do we do when they start shooting at us, huh?” 

Eric shook his head. “I gotta believe that Beck doesn’t want that any more than we do. But if he wants to make that decision, I’m not gonna make it easy for him. I’m gonna be standing here, on this hill, in the open with my friends, doing something I know is right.” Bill nodded along with all the rest. Eric was right. There was no more escalation possible here without crossing a line they couldn’t come back from. It was time to give up the ghost, and he could live with that. If it was death or losing what was left of his humanity, he would take death every time. 

That resolve didn’t make him any less nervous when the Humvees showed up though, but he stood his ground. He wasn’t so sure how smart it was letting Mimi go down there alone, but at least she wasn’t being hunted like the rest of them, and she was injured, so they would be less likely to shoot her than anyone else. His nerves got even worse when Beck showed up personally, but he took a spot beside Eric as he waited for the judgement. He wasn’t sure what god was looking out for him at the moment, but the fact that they were all free to go was a relief. 

They finished laying Bonnie to rest and headed back down the hill, letting Stanley and Mimi have their moment and they all headed back to town to find that Gray was back. He couldn’t help but feel better knowing that. Now if only Jake would get back, all would be well in Jericho again.


End file.
